Changeable display-board.



J. LOCKE.

CHANGEABLE DISPLAY BOARD.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.I0.19I6.

Patented Apr. 3,1917.

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J. LOCKE.

CHANG EABLE DISPLAY BOARD. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 10. 1915.

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J. LOCKE CHANGEABLE DISPLAY BOARD.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. I0 I9I6. Lggl 75 Patented Apr. 3,1917.

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JOHN Loo n, or WHITE:]?LAI1\TS, new YORK.

CHANGEABLE DISPLAY-BOARD.

Specification of LettersPatent.

Patented ApiaB, 1917.

Application filed. March 10 1916. Serial No. 83,292.

To all whom it may concern! Be it known that 1, JOHN LOCKE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of White Plains, in the county of lVestchester and State of New York, have invented a new and improved Changeable Display- Board, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to changeablesign boards, billboards or analogous devices, and has particular reference to means whereby a plurality of different display designs may be manipulated along the same apparatus at spaced intervals of time and having characteristics adapting the apparatus for attracting particular attention thereto.

Among the objects of the invention, therefore, is to provide a display board of any suitable size, formal outline or construction, but adapted especially for large billboard purposes, the same including facilities for receiving directly upon a plurality of surfaces as many different display subjects matter adapted for successive display.

Another object of the invention is to provide a structure of the character indicated having a most compact construction, and while a certain number of 'movable parts are employed, such number is maintained at a minimum and of a simple and reliable operation. v

A further object ofthe invention is to provide abillboard comprising a multiplicity ofparallel, closely associated, movable or shiftable elements each having a plurality of surfacesor faces, the individual surfaces of each element being so arranged as to lie in the same planes as the corresponding surfaces of all the other elements, at various times, and whereon as many dis play designs may be pasted or secured for successive display purposes when the elements are all rotated or shifted simultaneously. I

A still further object of the invention is to provide a display board having a composite display surface or field upon the whole of which a sign bill or the like may be pasted, and after the pasting is eifected, saidbill may be slitted along lines between the various elements composing said field, permitting the elements to be shifted to present a new surface to constitutea new field upon which a different bill or the like with the foregoing and. other objects in view, the invention consists in the arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and while the invention is not restricted to the exact details of construction disclosed herein, still for the purpose .of illustrating a practical embodiment thereof reference is had to the accompanying drawings in which-like characters I of reference designate the same parts in the several views, and in which Figure 1 is a front elevation of a suggested embodiment of the invention, portions being broken away to disclose interior mechanism Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, also having parts broken away;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary front elevation of the lower corners of the structure, .parts being broken away and the left end thereof belng 1n vertical section, substantially on the line 38 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on the line L4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a vertical transverse section 0 the line 5-5,of Fig.3;

Fig. 6 is a front elevation of the upper corners of the apparatus, parts being broken away substantially on the line 66 of Fig. 7;

Fig. 7 is a horizontal section of one end of the upper portion of the apparatus on the line 7'-7 of Fig. .6;

Fig. 8 is a vertical transverse section on the line 88 of Fig. 6; and

Fig. 9 is a diagram indicating the relation of the movable elements and indicating how closely they may be operated without interference;

Referring now more particularly to the drawings I show a display board having what I term a display field 10 upon which the display subjects such as advertisements, printed matter, colored posters, paintings or the like, are adapted to be placed by any expedient well known to the advertising art, and said field is shown surrounded by a frame comprising upper and lower panels 11 and 12 and end panels 13. These panels obviously provide a neat appearing finish for the entire apparatus and constitute means for houslng certain operating or supporting devlces for the multiplicity of movable or shiftable elements of the composite field.

design thereto.

Said shiftable elements are illustrated in the drawings as consisting'of vertically arranged parallel, triangular prismatic, rotary elements 14. Without unnecessarily limiting the invention as to details of construction, I suggest, as the most desirable form, the equilateral triangular prismatic form of rotary elements 14, each having faces a, b and 0, all the faces ofthe same character being so arranged as to lie in the same plane successively. For example, in the drawings 1 indicate all of the faces a lying in the same plane, and when in this position the field so constituted is adapted to receive a display design, the same as any other ordinary billboard, either as a paper bill pasted thereon or a painting, or any other suitable means. The several faces a of adjacent elements 14 may be arranged close together each to each, so that no difficulty is experienced in applying the display If the display design is applied, for example, as a bill pasted thereon, after the same is afiixed to the field the operator will runv his knife or other instrument along the lines between adjacent surfaces a of adjacent rotatable elements, severing each of the elements from the others,

adapting it for independent movement around its vertical axis. At this moment I wish to point out, however, that whereas I show these elements arranged vertically, such expressions are to be interpreted in a descriptive sense and not as limitations, inasmuch as the apparatus will be operative if otherwise arranged.

Each of the elements 14 is journaled at its ends in the frame, the lower end of each element being provided with a step bearing 15 cooperating with a base plate 16 along the upper portion of the lower panel member 12. Each of the bearing members 15 is shown in the form of an L-shaped bar having one end projecting downwardly in the axis of the member 14 and the other arm clamped as by means of staples 17 to the upper surface of a block 18 fitted into the lower end of the element. At the upper end of each element there is also provided a filler block or plug 19 in the axis of which is secured a crank member 20 constituting the upper bearing. The lower end of the crank member is clamped in any suitable manner to the inner surface of the plug and the main central portion of the crank member 20 is ournaled in a bracket 22 and at its upper end is formed the crank 23. Each bracket 22, shown best in Figs. (Sand 7 is U-shaped, having its middle portion secured rigidly to the back 24 of the upper portion of the frame and having two horizontal, forwardly-projecting, parallel legs in which two adjacent crank members 20 are journaled and supported at definite distances apart and from the back of the frame. The extreme forward end of each of the bracket legs is provided with a hole 25 into which av hook 26 extending rearwardly and upwardly from the lower portion 27 of the upper portion of the frame is adapted to be engaged so as to hold said portion of the frame with respect to the brackets. With the various elements 14 thus journaled, and supported in the main frame of the apparatus, any convenient means may be provided toconnect the same for controlling their position with respect to one another. For this purpose I employ a bar 28 having a series of holes 29 formed therethrough spaced equally and corresponding to the spacing between centers of the shiftable or rotatable elements 14, and in said holes the cranks 23 are journaled and permanently connected. It will thus be seen that the bar 28 so ties the elements together that they must all remain stationary or all turn together and in the same direction. Any suitable means may be provided for controlling the position or movement of the rotating elements constituting the composite field. The means I suggest and prefer for this purpose includes a motor M and which may be electric, spring or any other suitable type of motor, having a pinion 30 connected with the shaft and meshing with a larger gear 31 connected in turn to the arbor 32 secured in any suitable manner to a drum or belt pulley 33 having flanges 34.

At 35 is indicated an endless chain or belt of any suitable type operating over the flanged pulley 33 at one end of the frame and over a similar pulley 33 at the other end of the frame. These pulleys 33 and 33 are preferably of the same size and construction and the operation of the motor through the first mentioned pulley and the belt 35 causes the pulleys both to operate in unison and constantly while the motor is in operation.

The arbor 32 or'axis of the pulley 33 lies in axial alinement with the supporting step bearing 15 at the lower end of o11e,end element 14. A ratchet disk 36 is secured to the lower end of the step bearing shaft 15 and isprovided with equally spaced teeth 37, the number corresponding to the number of faces of each of the elements 14. See Fig. 4. This disk 36 lies just above the pulley 33 and is of approximately the same diameter, the teeth 37 however, projecting beyond the periphery of the disk and the flanges. .34 of thepulley. The belt 35 carries one or more fingers 38 projecting upwardly from the beltfor at rightangles thereto. Said finger being connected to the belt on the outer surface rides over the upper flange 34 and projects in such manner as to engage the teeth 37 successively causing the ratchet disk to be given a step-bystep rotation. As viewed in Fig. 4, the

finger 38 is just approaching the tooth 37 at the left end of the figure, and with the belt and finger moving in the direction of the arrows the disk 36 will be given-a onethird rotation, and then the finger will pass beyond the tooth, leaving the disk stationary. When the next finger comes into proximity to the disk, or if there should be only one finger when the same finger again comes around into position, it will pass idly over the tooth at the lower portion of the figure and again engage that tooth positioned at the left end with a repetition of the preceding operation.

F or the sake of positive operation and reliability of movement of the device I prefer for the actuating belt to be provided with a plurality of fingers 38 cooperating simultaneously upon both ends of the apparatus. In other words, I duplicate the disks 36 at both ends of the structure and so position the fingers 38 upon the belt and the teeth 37 upon the several disks 36 as to insure that both of the disks will be actuated at the same time and to the same angular extent. 14, which may be regarded as the-master elements, are both positively actuated simultaneously and to the same extent, the cranks 23 corresponding thereto serve to cause a positive actuation of the bar 28 in constant parallelism'with itself; that is to say, since both ends of the bar are similarly moved, all points thereof between the ends must be similarly moved, and therefore all of the cranks 23 are given a like actuation and therefore the shiftable elements 14: are all moved positively and simultaneously to the same extent. I

The triangular form of these elements 14 adapts them especially for close nesting and operation as will be appreciated from Fig. 9; that is to say, the field afforded by the front surfaces of these elements is practically unbroken so far as the application of the display design thereto is concerned. lVith the parts moving in the direction of the arrows on this diagram, it will be noted that the point or corner a of each element moving rearwardly from the field of the apparatus sweeps along closely to the face Z) of the next adjacent element until it intersects the path of the approaching corner of said adjacent element at the point 6, when the step-by-step actuation of the elements is half completed.

Any suitable means may be provided to positively lock the rotating elements from movement except when desired. For this purpose I provide a plurality of holes 39 in the disks 36, one for each tooth 37. At :0 is indicated a pin slidably mounted in a bracket 4-1 secured adjacent each disk. Each of the pins has a lug 42 projecting laterally therefrom through a slot 43 in the Since, therefore, both end elements bracket. Any suitable means may be employed to cause the pin l0 to move downwardly into cooperation with the disk so that normally the end of the pin projects into one of the holes 39. I have found that gravity is sufficient for this actuation of the pin. prefer to arrange those looking elements in such a manner with respect to the time of actuation of the belt fingers 38 that just about the time the finger engages a tooth 37 the upper end or head 38 of the finger will have lifted the locking pin out of engagement with the disk, and while this head 38 is momentarily holding the locking pin elevated it will begin the rotating actuation of the disk so that when the head passes beneath the lug 42 the pin will drop upon the unbroken surface of the disk where it will be in position to fall by gravity or otherwise into the next hole 39, thereby positively stopping and holding the disk and consequently stopping and holding all of the movable elements of the apparatus except the motor and belt.

It will now be seen that the several faces of all of the movable elements of the display field may carry as many different display designs, each of which will be presented to view for a time corresponding to the interval required for the movement of one of the fingers 38 from one end of the device to the other, and, further, the shifting of the several movable elements will be accomplished in a comparatively small interval of time corresponding only to the time required for the finger to pass through one-third of the circumference of the belt pulley. It follows, therefore, that the shifting from one scene to the next will be accomplished almost instantly and yet each display device will be shown for a comparatively long time, depending, of course, upon the speed of the motor and distances between fingers 38. In the case of a large display board it is obvious that a larger number of fingers 38 may be employed on the belt if it is desired for the scenes to be changed frequently.

I claim 1. In a changeable display board, the combination of a series of similar prismatic rotary elements, each element having a plurality of plain faces, similar faces of all of the elements being adapted to lie in the same plane constituting a display field over the whole of which a bill or the like may be pasted and subsequently out between adjacent elements, a rigid member extending along one end of all of the elements, similar crank members connected to the ends of the elements just mentioned and journaled in said rigid member, means to support the other ends of the elements for rotation, a pair of toothed disks arranged in the same plane and connected to those ends of the end elements of the series remote from the rigid member, and an endless band having projections serving to rotate the said disks intermittently and causing thereby the rotation of the end elements of the series and from them through the rigid member causing the simultaneous rotation of all of the elements so as to present a new series of faces to the display field.

2. In a changeable display board, the combination of a series of prismatic closely arranged parallel elements journaled for rotation around axes lying in the same plane, a pair of toothed disks connected to the end elements, a rigid member connecting all of the elements to cause them all to move simultaneously or to be held stationary together, an endless band operatingin a plane adjacent the plane of thedisks, a series of fingers extending from the band and adapted to intermittently engage the teeth of the disks to rotate the same intermittently, and locking means serving to hold the disks stationary when not intended to be moved, said locking means being releasable by said band fingers at the time movement of the elements is to take place.

3. In a changeable display board, the combination of a series of closely arranged parallel prismatic elements journaled for rotation around axes lying in the same plane, a pair of toothed disks connected to the end elements of the series and lying in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the axes, said disks having holes therethrough, gravity pins serving to automatically drop into said holes to'lock and hold the disks from rotation, an endless band operating in a plane parallel to the plane of the disks, fingers carried by the band and projecting therefrom across the plane of the disks for engagement with the teeth thereof, said fingers having cam-shaped heads serving to automatically lift the locking pins to release the disks, and means to cause all of the intermediate elements to be moved positively and simultaneously with the rotation of the end elements from the disks.

JOHN LOCKE.

Witnesses GEO. L. BEELER, JAMES H. MORAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

